f you’re lost regarding this column’s title, let me provide a little context. It was abeautiful day in May and I was a guest of SCCA’s Central Florida Region at theirsecond annual Daytona Showcase event. It was an incredible enthusiast experience formembers – as well as future members – and featured SCCA Road Racing, lappingsessions, autocross, RallyCross, opportunities to volunteer, see racecars up close, andmaybe even do a ride along on one of the most famous tracks in North America:Daytona International Speedway.

While I was there looking to have #funwithcars with some fellow enthusiasts,
I was also there to participate in my first enduro, co-driving an SRF3 with Lee Hill,
Chairman of SCCA’s Board of Directors. It was my first time in the car, my first time
on the banks of Daytona, and my first time to run in a 90-minute road race with

85 other competitors. To boost my confidence even more, I was the greenhorn inthe PM Racing stable led by a multi-time SCCA National Champion Brian Schofieldand drivers like Jean-Luc Liverato, Doug Mead,Casey McKibben, Chad Galloway, Lee Hill, andRichie Stanley, among others. Backing up this greatstable of drivers was the PM Racing support teamof Jason Schultz, Tyler Schultz, and Rob Roche.

This support team would become very important
to Mr. Hill’s co-driver (yours truly) very quickly.

How quickly you ask? During my first session in the car, I spun entering the chicaneon the out lap, also known as “OTOL.” I can’t tell you all the things that were goingthrough my mind as I was spinning into the tire wall at Turn 7A, but the one thatI can share went something like this: “I am so fired. I just wrecked my boss’ car!”A great deal of humble pie later, and courtesy of the incredible fabricationskills of the PM Racing team, I picked up some new graphics on the car, learnedthe value of color matching duct tape, made it back on track for all remainingpractice sessions, successfully completed them without incident, and pickedup speed and a little confidence each time I was at the helm. And, on Saturday,team Hill/Cobb placed eighth in class and 10th overall in the 85-car enduro.

The real point in my sharing this experience is not to illustrate how much more
I need to learn about road racing. The more valuable concept is this: In order
to get to where we’ve never been, we have to do things we’ve never done.

This idea (which is a rough interpretation of something once said by Thomas
Jefferson) is more than teaching old dogs new tricks – this truism is valid
personally, professionally, and organizationally for the SCCA. The Daytona
Showcase is a huge undertaking to execute across a weekend. However,
the CFR team took on the challenge even though this is not the way the
Region’s events have been done before. The team wanted to create a new
SCCA experience that would provide an “easy button” for non-members and

OTOL!?

PRESIDENT & CEO, SCCA INC.

MIKE COBB

“I can’t tell you all the things thatwere going through my mind asI was spinning into the tire wall”